Chapter Fifty-Four

HiveShip

“Move to intercept,” Hardwicke sat back in his captain’s chair and smiled grimly.

His entire career was over. Ended not because of a decision he had made, but by decisions made by that little rat-fuck Carter.

Because the man could not see far enough ahead to realize that he was about to unleash.

None of that mattered now, of course.

The Imperial Line fleet burned on the other side of the jump point, and in at least two more systems. There was not even any guarantee that they would stop there. Would they take their win and walk away? Or would they hunt down the Imperial Line until there was nothing left?

One thing he was confident of was that he would never leave the area alive. One did not blockade a people, threaten their extermination, and then walk away.

“What is that?” Stibbert growled as the sensor readings refused to agree.

“It is an enemy ship,” Hardwicke said with cheerful fatalism. “What else matters?”

“It is reading as alive, sir,” Stibbert frowned. “I’ve never seen this design before, either.”

“Another great mystery of the Imperium?” Hardwicke sighed. “Whatever it is, they must have kept it back to protect it.”

“We have incoming Heavy Cruisers!” Scan reported. “Permission to engage?”

“Allow our escort to take care of it,” Hardwicke shook his head. “I want that station in our sights before they can return to defend it!”

“What, exactly, is the plan here, sir?” Stibbert asked quietly.

“The simplest one of all, Stibbert,” Hardwicke said. “We will hold the station hostage to negotiate our surrender.”

“Will that work?” Stibbert’s tone suggested otherwise.

“It is all we have,” Hardwicke replied. “It is all we have.”

The enemy had clearly put the vast majority of its combat fleet into play to break his fleet. It should not have worked, but those damn ships were near unstoppable. Even the ancient, near-mythical Cascade had failed to damage it.

Larger ships were slow. It was just a fact. The sheer mass and the resultant inertia were constants that every faction had to deal with.

Unless you could compute micro-jumps.

In battle.

With a ship the size of a small station.

No, no one could have stopped those ships. Even so, one does not break a line held by one fleet, let alone two, with less than fifty ships. Not unless you use everything you have.

That realization made Hardwicke realize he had a single avenue of hope.

If he jumped INTO the Imperium now while everyone else was fighting, he could attack nearly unopposed.

So he grabbed the only other capital near him and a couple of cruisers and jumped.

He had not been disappointed.

The system was nearly undefended. There were a half-dozen Imperium cruisers and one large ship that read as capital but looked more like some strange arc ship. Nothing that would—”

“Incoming comm from the Imperium capital, Sir!”

“Put it on,” Hardwicke said. Maybe they would try and beg? Showing kindness now might put him in good stead later…

The screen cleared to show a young woman on a throne of metal and muscle. She wore a strange suit of armor that seemed to ripple and shift. Stood behind her was a man with part of his face replaced with metal!

What else he could see of the bridge showed dark shapes huddled over controls like scavengers over a kill.

He could not quite make them out.

“This is Paren Bonne Chance, Princess of the Nanite Imperium; leave our system immediately.” The young woman said imperiously. Despite her firm tone, she looked anxious or excited somehow. Perhaps she knew the situation she was in, trying to bluff him possibly?

“I am Grand Shareholder Hardwicke, Fleet Captain of the Imperial Line blockade. Your attack has failed, Princess. Surrender now, and I promise you and your people will not be harmed.” One good bluff deserved another.

“Liar,” Princess Paren laughed. “Your fleet is dead, Hardwicke. My mothers’ however, is doing just fine.”

“It was worth a try,” Hardwicke smiled. “But that does not change your situation here. We outnumber you, and whatever that ship is, it will not save you. Surrender now, and you will not be harmed. Indeed I intend only to ransom you back to your family, along with the people on that station, in exchange for the lives of my people.”

“No need for that,” Paren shrugged. “Just broadcast you lost and leave.” She smiled. “Or do what that other little shit did and run through the jump point to the Sectors.”

Hardwicke frowned. Did that mean Carter was still alive? It would be nice to track him down and end him…

It was too risky. While they traveled, the Imperium ships could return. A couple of micro-jumps and they would be on him before he could even protest.

“Last chance, Princess,” Hardwicke said. “Surrender, or we will take you by force.”

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“I agree,” Paren nodded. “Last chance, Hardwicke. Then I will kill you all. I am not as forgiving as my mother.”

“All ships, engage the Imperium Capital,” Hardwicke kept his eyes on the princess, waiting for the look of fear in her eyes.

It was only when they sparkled with joy that he wondered if this was a mistake.

It was too late.

The escorting cruisers accelerated, forcing their faster engines to the maximum as they closed on the ship. Hardwicke finally saw the ID beacon, Hive ship? Was this some kind of arc? If so, this would be a quick battle.

“Sir, weapons signatures!” Scan warned.

Between the giant black plates of armor, large circular orbs had rotated, unveiling laser arrays. It seemed the ship had teeth, after all. Lights flared on the rear and sides of the ship, engines coming to life as the ship… flexed. The plates moved strangely as they twisted to turn the plates and weapons on the back toward the attack. Laser arrays fired in a storm of colors before the weapons' signatures died, the orbs rotating to show the open barrels of some kinetic weapons.

“Good Profits!” Stibbert yelled. “They have rotating turrets.”

Hardwicke watched in horror as the ship—that looked more like a giant creature as it curved and twisted—obliterated the leading cruiser as flashes of light heralded the arrival of its backup cruisers.

“Tell the Imperial Line Captain to form up on our port,” Hardwicke ordered Stibbert, “We will take a leaf from our enemy’s book and open this battle with XL Beam weapons.”

“Yes, Sir!”

“And prepare countermeasures for when they jump away,” Hardwicke grinned. He had learned much about Imperium tactics, and he would use that knowledge now. The other Capital, ‘Profit’s Share,’ formed up on his port, and they maneuvered to get a shot.

Just as they brought the enemy ship into the firing arc, one of the Line cruiser's shields fell. The hive ship rolled toward it…

“Fire now!”

Hardwicke grinned as the beam slammed into the enemy ship, boring a hole into the thick metal plates. It would be over soon…

The thing rolled into a ball, rotating in place and spreading the attack from his beam and the one from the Profit’s share across the various plates.

The moment the beams snapped off, it unrolled and dove bow first for the Imperial Line cruiser.

“They are going to ram it?” Stibbert asked. “That’s suicide!”

The Hiveship did not ram it, however…

“NO!” Hardwicke roared in horror as the bow opened. That was no bow… that was a head… and that was a mouth with heavy mandibles that tore into the shieldless cruiser.

Complete silence fell over the bridge of the flagship as she watched a ship consumed in a dozen bites from the massive maw.

“The armor! Look at the armor!” His weapons officer called, and Hardwicke watched in horror as it began to thicken and regrow.

“That’s no ship!” Hardwick swore. “That’s an abomination!”

“Kill it! Fire everything! Now!” Stibbert roared at the stunned crew.

The flag drove hard toward the Hiveship, every weapon system firing. The Profit followed a step behind. It seemed the captain was afraid.

Hardwicke could not blame him; he felt something he had never felt before. He felt like prey.

The creature—for that is what it was. There was no denying that now—it rolled and twisted away, curving onto its side to fly between the two ships.

“Bring us around!” Hardwicke demanded.

By the time they had flipped the ship, it was too late.

Hardwicke felt himself collapse into the chair as their forward sensors showed giant metal claws; dozens of them had extended from the base of the Hiveship, digging into the Profit Share as it bit down on the bow.

“Mister Stibbert,” Hardwicke said hollowly. “Signal our immediate surrender.”

“Yes, Sir!” Stibbert said.

A tense moment passed until…

“We have a reply.” The comm tech handed it to him with shaking hands.

I warned you.

There is no escape now.

“Full power to the engines! Get us to a jump point!” Hardwicke threw the printout away.

“Which one?” Nav asked, their eyes glued to the gruesome sight on the forward screen.”

“Anyone! Get us the fuck out of here!” Stibbert screamed. “Jump us into the system’s fucking sun for all I care!”

Silence settled over the bridge as they flipped once more, every drop of power going into the engines.

Nothing, anywhere, ever had scared Hardwicke like this.

A flash behind and ahead.

The Hive ship opened its maw wide as it headed straight for them.

Hardwicke took one look around the bridge and drew his pistol, placing it against his temple and pulling the trigger with only a single thought.

We should never have come here….

===<<<>>>===

“Hurry up!” Paren fretted as she watched the scan for the first sign of returning ships.

“We can’t go any faster!” Edwards yelled back, “The ship will choke! Do you know what happens when a living ship chokes? Because I, for one, do not want to know!”

The Imperial Line flagship was half consumed, but they had been forced to slow down due to running out of room in the holds. They could only hold so much, after all.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Paren freaked as the Harbinger came blasting into the system, micro-jumping towards the Hive ship like a stone skipping over the water.

“Paren, are you okay?” Nellie’s near-panicked voice came over the comm line.

“We are fine!” Paren said quickly. “All damage repaired, and no losses. Isn’t that great?”

The Harbinger burst into space only a few ship lengths away, counter-burning madly to dump velocity.

“What happened?” Nellie asked quickly, “How many ships got through? Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”

“Wow, okay,” Paren smiled. “The Line flag attacked us, about eight, I think, and yes. Did I miss any of those?”

“Good,” Nellie let out a relieved sigh… that stretched out into a curious sound.

“Paren… Is your ship biting the Line’s flagship?”

“No,” Paren replied carefully. Technically it was consuming it. Biting did not quite—

“Harvesting the wreckage, Ma’am,” Edwards offered smoothly. “There are no living souls inside, I can assure you.”

“Okay,” Nellie said suspiciously. “Were they dead before or after you started eating their ship?”

“This ship?” Edwards asked.

“How many have you eaten?” Nellie asked angrily.

“Well, eight?” Paren offered. “Technically, seven and a half.”

“A third,” Edwards estimated. “We are not quite at half yet.”

“Were any of those ships full of live people when you ate them?” Nellie growled.

“Absolutely not,” Edwards reassured her.

“Right, they would have died from decompression trauma the moment the mandibles pierced the hull.” Paren agreed.

“Space suits are a thing, Paren,” Nellie sighed. “I would like a clear answer, please.”

“Okay,” Paren shrugged. “Maybe, I mean, does it matter if it is a railgun round or a mandible that pierces the hull?”

“Yes!” Nellie hissed. “Because there could be survivors.”

“Oh!” Paren laughed. “Yeah, no. We didn’t do survivors.”

“Paren!” Nellie groaned. “You have to give people a chance.”

“I did,” Paren replied angrily. “I offered them the chance to surrender or even to just leave the system. I gave them the option to go back and surrender to you. I gave them the chance to just leave the way Carter did. I gave them lots of chances.”

“Oh, good.” Nellie sounded relieved. “People do deserve a chance, Paren. Even if they did things wrong in the past.”

“Uh-huh,” Paren said blankly. “Subtle one that.”

Nellie laughed.

“Right, in that case, we could use your help with cleanup!” The Queen said brightly. “So much to be done.

Paren smiled and nodded into the pickup while a nanite tendril reached out and executed the micro-jump.

“PAREN!”